The present invention relates to a method for disposing of drilling muds and to a disposable drilling mud composition.
The disposal of drilling muds can be costly. An exemplary expensive disposal technique entails hauling the drilling mud to a landfill. In a less expensive disposal technique, the drilling mud is injected into a subterranean formation of an abandoned drilled well after the drilling operation is terminated. However, because of increasing environmental awareness the latter technique may possess latent problems since the injected drilling mud remains mobile in the subterranean formation and can potentially migrate to more environmentally sensitive portions, e.g., potable water aquifers, of the formation.